(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hanger arrangements for suspending articles from overhead support surfaces.
(2) Prior Art
Signs and overhead articles are common in retail businesses today, as may be evidenced in any commercial establishment in the country.
Visibility is the requirement for these objects such as signs, cameras, clocks or the like may be hung from the ceiling optimize that visibility, with minimum use of space and obtrusiveness.
Signs or like objects, may be suspended from ceilings, window mullions, or other raised horizontal surfaces, by a plurality of suspension means per sign as shown for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,733 to Cheung et al. Inverted "T" rails are common forms of ceiling panel securement, and sign suspensions are usually attached to those rails by various clips, magnets or the like. The signs are typically put in place onto those rails by two people, each climbing a ladder and/or lifting a pole (or one person doing it twice) having a distal end which supports an anchoring magnet, adhesive fixture or spring clip, to which a suspender means is attached, from the upper edge of the sign.
Two suspension hangers keep the signs from twisting away from the desired direction, that which is the most likely to be seen by passing customers.
An example of clips attached to a ceiling rail is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,087 to Wand. Some rather complicated attachment devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,576 to Hoop, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,692.
It is however, a necessity of these hanger devices, to have them hung in pairs of anchors and rods so as to prevent twisting or rotation of signs, and also a requirement that the signs to which they mate, be assembled or installed onto the ceiling, and removed therefrom, by two people each time, or one person doing the operation twice.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sign hanging means which will not permit a sign hung therewith to twist or rotate, yet will require only a single anchor means.
It is also an object of the present invention, to permit a sign to be attached to a ceiling support, by a single individual operation, not the typical two individuals or dual operation commonly required.